That came after. Linux wasn't even on 2.6 with its famous stability yet when this kicked off. What you see now is a result. They softened on open source as they realized it actually has some benefits for a company like Microsoft.
The Microsoft of the Halloween Documents[0] is a different Microsoft from the one we see today that understands open source as something good rather than as a threat, and it started with Microsoft being forced to play nice.
After having gouged Red Hat and Suse for years with their bogus Linux patent racket and bankrolling the infamous SCO Unix lawsuit. Make no mistake M$ coming over all We Love Linux was like Donald Trump turning up at the DNC.
I do remain skeptical that the node on the Microsoft org chart that usually strangles anything good the companies does is waiting to strike. It used to be Windows node, but now it seems like the ad node comes in for the kill most of the time. The company is slowly morphing into Google as Google morphs into Amazon, while Amazon is morphing into UPS.
The Microsoft of the Halloween Documents[0] is a different Microsoft from the one we see today that understands open source as something good rather than as a threat, and it started with Microsoft being forced to play nice.
"The cloud" as we understand it didn't exist yet.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents